By Liz Gordon-Hancock
After interviewing my childhood best friends, Natasha and Theresa Meyer, who were twins, I set out to interview other twins from Bluffton. I managed to interview my first set of identical twins. Allow me to introduce Morgan and Natalie Basinger.
Morgan and Natalia are identical twins, the daughters of Scott and Kate Basinger. They are five years old. For the record, Morgan is older. The girls will start kindergarten in Bluffton this fall. They have one younger sister, Brooklynn, age 4.
Name one good thing about being a twin.
Morgan: I like wearing the same outfits.
Natalie: I like going to the park with her.
And is there anything bad about being a twin?
Both: No
Did you ever trick anyone or confuse a teacher into thinking you were your twin?
Both: No
Are there other twins in your family?
Both: Nana
(Nana refers to their grandmother, Janice Basinger, from Bluffton, who is a fraternal twin.)
Is your twin your best friend?
Both: Yes
To test the "twin connection" theory, I asked both twins five basic questions about each other. For example, I asked "What is your favorite color?" and they each had to answer for themselves but also guess what their twin's answer would be.
Having done this test on two sets of fraternal twins, I was interested to see how identical twins would do. Would you believe, they both scored higher than either of the fraternal twins? Morgan and Natalie guessed half of the questions about each other correctly.
What's your favorite color?
Morgan: Pink and purple
Natalie: Pink
Their favorite movie is Mary Poppins. And they both want to be horse trainers when they grow up. They've ridden on a friend's horse once, but that was enough to instil a love of horses.
Interestingly, they both claimed their sister disliked tomatoes, but neither of them actually admitted to disliking tomatoes. To me, this highlights the kind of connection or bond that twins have: one doesn't like something, so the other decides they don't like it. But neither may be able to identify where this dislike came from.
I asked Morgan and Natalie's mom, Kate "Is there such a thing as a twin connection or is it just a really close bond?"
Kate: I don’t feel like they have a special language but I do feel they are very connected. They get upset when the other twin gets disciplined, hurt, etc. But we as parents try to make them feel like individuals as much as possible and stress the importance that their identity is found in Jesus Christ alone.
How is raising twins different from raising your other child?
Kate: Our twins definitely feed off of each other’s behaviors and emotions, both positively and negatively. They are both very shy in public but very inquisitive at home. My oldest twin (Morgan) would be my compassionate and sensitive one, while Natalie would be more silly and funny, yet has a heart for others.
Our youngest daughter, Brooklynn, is definitely our most strong-willed child. But all three are such a blessing! I am so incredibly blessed and thankful to God that he chose “me” to be their mom!
If you are a twin with a Bluffton connection and would like to be interviewed, please contact the Icon at [email protected].
